Woodford Halse Cricket Club bags grant from Daventry supermarket

A village cricket club has bagged a share of £11.5 million raised by the carrier bag charge.

Woodford Halse Cricket Club received £8,000 from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

The supermarket launched its Bags of Help initiative, which saw grants being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.

It then asked shoppers in stores to vote for projects to support.

A spokesman said: “The grant given to Woodford Halse Cricket Club will help a grass roots club to develop so that more children and adults can play cricket. The artificial wicket will allow for training and playing matches, reducing the wear and tear to the existing grass wickets.

“This facility will also allow for community use and hopefully encourage more people to play sport and become fit and active.”

Caroline Silke, head of community at Tesco, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success.

“We have been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and the feedback has been brilliant.

“We can’t wait to see the money being put to use bringing these projects to life. Nominations for the next round of the initiative will open in April.”

When the Government introduced charges for single-use bags in England in October, it stipulated stores must charge a minimum of 5p for each bag, the money raised must be used to help community schemes – not be pocketed by the company.

Firms may deduct costs for updating till systems and training staff over the new system, but cannot deduct even the cost of the bag from the amount for charity.